Blizzard is so damn terrible at rolling out games

[poweRob]

This time with Diablo 4.

I was part of the beta testing and yeah you expect issues. There were some. We've been live and out of beta for a month now and even more and bigger problems. It seems for Blizzard, Beta stage is actually alpha stage and the first several months of release is the actual Beta testing. So annoying.

 

[Chock Full o Nuts]

I recently started playing World of Warcraft again after about 12 years. Couldn't manage to have my old account tracked down and reinstated though..

Had seen mention of Diablo here, and seeing 3 was available for free play I tried it for a short time. What is the draw of it? Just seems to be a click to move, attack/interact game. Does it get better? Just seems to be a monotonous click, click, click game to me..

 

[Ginger Ale]

The trailer for Diablo looked amazing, I must admit. The artists for that game deserve a raise. But, I've heard Blizzard has some problems.
I'm currently playing the new Final Fantasy 16. Finding some similar issues. I think getting them out has become more important than making sure they're smooth and ready.
I have so many games to finish now, there's just too many new ones to keep up with and I don't have the time.

 

[WorldWatcher]

The trailer for Diablo looked amazing, I must admit. The artists for that game deserve a raise. But, I've heard Blizzard has some problems.
I'm currently playing the new Final Fantasy 16. Finding some similar issues. I think getting them out has become more important than making sure they're smooth and ready.
I have so many games to finish now, there's just too many new ones to keep up with and I don't have the time.

We're in a time of what I call Charlie testing.

Alpha Testing is in house QA testing functionality.

Beta Testing may be open or closed to the pubic and gamers are warned about it in advance. They get to play through certain sections and provide feedback.

Charlie Testing is general release of the game with "Day One Patch" to the public. Feedback from the public then provides information on tuning, balance, frame rates and video quality, and bugs.
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I'm currently on a second play though of Elden Ring (1st was a Quality Build, this one is a Spellsword). I bought it a year after release for two reasons (a) be on a stable version, and (b) bought it on the X-mas Steam sale at 33% off list.

WW

 

[Ginger Ale]

We're in a time of what I call Charlie testing.

Alpha Testing is in house QA testing functionality.

Beta Testing may be open or closed to the pubic and gamers are warned about it in advance. They get to play through certain sections and provide feedback.

Charlie Testing is general release of the game with "Day One Patch" to the public. Feedback from the public then provides information on tuning, balance, frame rates and video quality, and bugs.
.
.
.
.
I'm currently on a second play though of Elden Ring (1st was a Quality Build, this one is a Spellsword). I bought it a year after release for two reasons (a) be on a stable version, and (b) bought it on the X-mas Steam sale at 33% off list.

WW

Lol, I'm stealing that term. I do a lot of it. Lately I've also been into the new V Rising release. Not that smooth, but, only small issues and they're very responsive. A lot of my fav's recharged at the same time so I'm busy.

I'm playing Elden Ring as well, so fantastic! Im writing a song based on the frenzied flame merchant song. I've not finished the game, not nearly actually because I have 3 other games I'm into right now.

 

[WorldWatcher]

Lol, I'm stealing that term. I do a lot of it. Lately I've also been into the new V Rising release. Not that smooth, but, only small issues and they're very responsive. A lot of my fav's recharged at the same time so I'm busy.

I'm playing Elden Ring as well, so fantastic! Im writing a song based on the frenzied flame merchant song. I've not finished the game, not nearly actually because I have 3 other games I'm into right now.

I have no idea how I'm going to resist being a Charlie Tester for Starfield.

I've got some older games to replay XCOM2 or another playthrough of Metro, I'm really hoping to catch RE4 Remake on Steam Summer Sale.

I've had Mordor: Shadow of War in my library for a long time and never played it.

WW

 

[Ginger Ale]

I have no idea how I'm going to resist being a Charlie Tester for Starfield.

I've got some older games to replay XCOM2 or another playthrough of Metro, I'm really hoping to catch RE4 Remake on Steam Summer Sale.

I've had Mordor: Shadow of War in my library for a long time and never played it.

WW

I know right! Too much candy for my small stomach. lol

I have several games I've bought on a steam sale in my line up but they keep releasing others all over the place that I'm on permanent backlog.

RE4 is on my, "please have time" waitlist as well. Then there's real life, and work, which gets in the way.

 

[Binary_Digit]

This time with Diablo 4.

I was part of the beta testing and yeah you expect issues. There were some. We've been live and out of beta for a month now and even more and bigger problems. It seems for Blizzard, Beta stage is actually alpha stage and the first several months of release is the actual Beta testing. So annoying.

I haven't had any game-breaking issues with D4, but by level 50 I became so tired of the cliche and overused "engage a few mobs and suddenly 3x more spawn under your feet out of nowhere" mechanic that I just got burned out. I guess if you're a melee character it's easier to not care about this, but as a necro who is supposed to hide behind my army it's just plain irritating.

 

[WorldWatcher]

I know right! Too much candy for my small stomach. lol

I have several games I've bought on a steam sale in my line up but they keep releasing others all over the place that I'm on permanent backlog.

RE4 is on my, "please have time" waitlist as well. Then there's real life, and work, which gets in the way.

I'm itching to play RE4 as with a high degree of planning and tactics involved over just running down halls and stumbling into the fray.

Major Slack has a great YouTube series regarding RE4 Tactical Gaming.

I'm a geezer gamer and just don't have the physical reflexes or mental agility to get into the middle of a total shit show and fumble my way through it.

For example, in Elden Ring my most valuable assets are the Hornbow and basic Bone Darts. I reconnoiter the situation and use them at range to pull off individuals from a group. Why fumble around with a 1v6 scenario when you can do 6 1v1 engagements instead. (Freaking sheep in this game hate my guts.)

WW

 

[Ginger Ale]

I'm itching to play RE4 as with a high degree of planning and tactics involved over just running down halls and stumbling into the fray.

Major Slack has a great YouTube series regarding RE4 Tactical Gaming.

I'm a geezer gamer and just don't have the physical reflexes or mental agility to get into the middle of a total shit show and fumble my way through it.

For example, in Elden Ring my most valuable assets are the Hornbow and basic Bone Darts. I reconnoiter the situation and use them at range to pull off individuals from a group. Why fumble around with a 1v6 scenario when you can do 6 1v1 engagements instead. (Freaking sheep in this game hate my guts.)

WW

My daughter plays bow only! I use the Rivers of Blade Katana and in my mind I'm a master ninja. lol It's really op, and I need it to be because I'm not that quick on the reflexes either. I'm often calling my daughter and asking for aid, she spoils me, always bringing me gifts.

 

[HonestJoe]

This time with Diablo 4.

I was part of the beta testing and yeah you expect issues. There were some. We've been live and out of beta for a month now and even more and bigger problems. It seems for Blizzard, Beta stage is actually alpha stage and the first several months of release is the actual Beta testing. So annoying.

Why do you keep buying them then?

As long as all the bugs don't significantly impact the bottom line, why would they bother investing too much in resolving them before release? As long as enough people keep getting caught up in the hype of dramatic cinematics, name recognition and wild promises, the big companies will keep pumping out flashy but flawed products.

 

[poweRob]

I haven't had any game-breaking issues with D4, but by level 50 I became so tired of the cliche and overused "engage a few mobs and suddenly 3x more spawn under your feet out of nowhere" mechanic that I just got burned out. I guess if you're a melee character it's easier to not care about this, but as a necro who is supposed to hide behind my army it's just plain irritating.

They have a warning out now saying they are under a DDOS attack and to expect disconnections and server lag.

 

[poweRob]

I recently started playing World of Warcraft again after about 12 years. Couldn't manage to have my old account tracked down and reinstated though..

Had seen mention of Diablo here, and seeing 3 was available for free play I tried it for a short time. What is the draw of it? Just seems to be a click to move, attack/interact game. Does it get better? Just seems to be a monotonous click, click, click game to me..

I enjoyed 3 for a long time. For me the fun was when the story was done and you went into adventure mode and gearing up in the different ways. I pretty much always played hard core which added a level of excitement.

 

[poweRob]

We're in a time of what I call Charlie testing.

Alpha Testing is in house QA testing functionality.

Beta Testing may be open or closed to the pubic and gamers are warned about it in advance. They get to play through certain sections and provide feedback.

Charlie Testing is general release of the game with "Day One Patch" to the public. Feedback from the public then provides information on tuning, balance, frame rates and video quality, and bugs.
.
.
.
.
I'm currently on a second play though of Elden Ring (1st was a Quality Build, this one is a Spellsword). I bought it a year after release for two reasons (a) be on a stable version, and (b) bought it on the X-mas Steam sale at 33% off list.

WW

I was a part of the beta testing. Then after that they had a weekend of server stress testing that I was a a part of then they did the public release. With the option to play hard core out there I'm dying to try but won't even consider it until they get their stupid servers up to snuff. Had many times with D3 where I was playing hardcore and the server would start lagging and when it caught up to real time, your character would be dead.

 

[WorldWatcher]

My daughter plays bow only! I use the Rivers of Blade Katana and in my mind I'm a master ninja. lol It's really op, and I need it to be because I'm not that quick on the reflexes either. I'm often calling my daughter and asking for aid, she spoils me, always bringing me gifts.

My loadout varies based on the situation but I run my spellsword in three main modes to actually conserve FP.

• Guard Counter: Moonveil in my right hand upgraded brass shield in my right. Upgrade brass shield is current giving me 100% physical with 60 Guard Boost.
• Dual Weld Katanas: Moonveil (max'd) in my right and a ICE Katana in my left. Gives me quick high damage double stricks with the ICE katana giving a damage buff if the cold procs. Then double katana for high bleed.
• Caster: Carian Glintstone Staff in my off hand. Mostly for boss fights using the Mimic as a distraction while I take charge from the rear and pelt the boss with Comet, Rock Sling, or Meteor.

This way I can run a pretty even split on flasks between HP and FP, I'm not a pansy in a melee fight but I do have to be careful. Once I get to the boss and pull the staff out all hell breaks loose.

Talisman loadout is usually one for carry weight, Intel + 5, and the Blessed Dew to keep HP topped off. Once I get to a boss fight where it's win or die, the Blessed Dew comes off and is replaced by whichever is likely to be most useful (normally increased magic damage or charged attack increase depending on the foe). I'm constantly switching talismans as I'll also use the red or blue daggers to recharge when I'm out and about.

WW

 

[WorldWatcher]

Why do you keep buying them then?

As long as all the bugs don't significantly impact the bottom line, why would they bother investing too much in resolving them before release? As long as enough people keep getting caught up in the hype of dramatic cinematics, name recognition and wild promises, the big companies will keep pumping out flashy but flawed products.

Because we are the type of people that like hitting our thumbs with a hammer?

Don't know, just spit ball'n here.

WW

 

[WorldWatcher]

I was a part of the beta testing. Then after that they had a weekend of server stress testing that I was a a part of then they did the public release. With the option to play hard core out there I'm dying to try but won't even consider it until they get their stupid servers up to snuff. Had many times with D3 where I was playing hardcore and the server would start lagging and when it caught up to real time, your character would be dead.

I understand in Hardcore there is no save option.

But can't you do an external backup of the file and replace it if there is a server disconnect?

I do that with Elden Ring periodically when I want to do some offline testing without impacting my game progression. Just navigate to the game data folder, copy it to a backup location, then replace it back if needed. (Don't know about Diablo, never played it.)

WW

 

[Ginger Ale]

My loadout varies based on the situation but I run my spellsword in three main modes to actually conserve FP.

• Guard Counter: Moonveil in my right hand upgraded brass shield in my right. Upgrade brass shield is current giving me 100% physical with 60 Guard Boost.
• Dual Weld Katanas: Moonveil (max'd) in my right and a ICE Katana in my left. Gives me quick high damage double stricks with the ICE katana giving a damage buff if the cold procs. Then double katana for high bleed.
• Caster: Carian Glintstone Staff in my off hand. Mostly for boss fights using the Mimic as a distraction while I take charge from the rear and pelt the boss with Comet, Rock Sling, or Meteor.

This way I can run a pretty even split on flasks between HP and FP, I'm not a pansy in a melee fight but I do have to be careful. Once I get to the boss and pull the staff out all hell breaks loose.

Talisman loadout is usually one for carry weight, Intel + 5, and the Blessed Dew to keep HP topped off. Once I get to a boss fight where it's win or die, the Blessed Dew comes off and is replaced by whichever is likely to be most useful (normally increased magic damage or charged attack increase depending on the foe). I'm constantly switching talismans as I'll also use the red or blue daggers to recharge when I'm out and about.

WW

Ok, now you're making me get off here and get on Elden Ring. I don't have a great build yet, I'm not far enough in, I've only beaten two dungeons. I do a ton of exploring. But now I'm inspired.

 

[WorldWatcher]

Ok, now you're making me get off here and get on Elden Ring. I don't have a great build yet, I'm not far enough in, I've only beaten two dungeons. I do a ton of exploring. But now I'm inspired.

I'm no so much a build guy as I am a play style guy. You can go out to peoples YouTube channels and watch "How to be an overpowered Mage in 5 minutes" or "My barbarian build will hulk smash everything".

To me it's about about selecting a style of play and then sticking with it. (And ya, you will find a way to totally respect your character later on if you want).

First playthrough was a quality build centered around Bloodhounds Fang investing only enough in FP to be able to call any summon I wanted. That meant up-close and personal combat for the most part with the bow being used for pulling enemies. As a huge curved sword Bloodhound Fang has awesome stunning impact.

Second play as I said is a spellsword so it's leveraging a totally different set of states.

Funny thing is that engagements that were a cakewalk in playthrough #1 have been challenging as a spellsword. And vice versa, engagement which were difficult with Bloodhound Fang are proving easy with magic.

WW

 

[WorldWatcher]

So kind of an off the wall question...

..... ..... So the game Final Fantasy XVI (16)...

..... ..... ..... ..... How can it be "Final" Fantasy 16?

..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... Wouldn't for it to be a final fantasy it would have been required to end at Final Fantasy "I".

..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... At this stage shouldn't it be called "Recurring Fantasy" XVI?

WW

 

[poweRob]

I understand in Hardcore there is no save option.

But can't you do an external backup of the file and replace it if there is a server disconnect?

I do that with Elden Ring periodically when I want to do some offline testing without impacting my game progression. Just navigate to the game data folder, copy it to a backup location, then replace it back if needed. (Don't know about Diablo, never played it.)

WW

Nope. If your character dies there is no bringing them back. You have to start a new character from scratch.

 

[poweRob]

Because we are the type of people that like hitting our thumbs with a hammer?

Don't know, just spit ball'n here.

WW

And I don't sprawl my gaming. I've been playing blizzard games since the 90's and that's about it. I do diablo and starcraft. I did WoW for a while but it was too much of a life-sucker so I dropped it. Every now and again I'll do Hearthstone. Those three games are it for me.

 

[Redress]

This time with Diablo 4.

I was part of the beta testing and yeah you expect issues. There were some. We've been live and out of beta for a month now and even more and bigger problems. It seems for Blizzard, Beta stage is actually alpha stage and the first several months of release is the actual Beta testing. So annoying.

To me, the problems with D4 are about as expected, and not really game breaking. Itemization and character balance is less than ideal, but that will be years of changing, and changing again. I can live with it. My biggest problem is that the main quest is pretty meh. It gets really repetitive and slow moving, and the big fights are not that hard. Overall it seems a pretty decent game.

 

[Redress]

The trailer for Diablo looked amazing, I must admit. The artists for that game deserve a raise. But, I've heard Blizzard has some problems.
I'm currently playing the new Final Fantasy 16. Finding some similar issues. I think getting them out has become more important than making sure they're smooth and ready.
I have so many games to finish now, there's just too many new ones to keep up with and I don't have the time.

The game looks amazing. There are points in the final act of the main quest where it seems thhe whole point is to have you run through a dungeon that is there just to show off how awesome the game can look(and literally that is about all you do, run through areas, kill a few trivial mobs, and run some more).

 

[Redress]

I've got some older games to replay XCOM2

Have you tried Marvel's Midnight Suns? It is made by the developers of XCOM, and has a very XCOM kinda feel, except it is a card battler, except it is so much more. Probably the best game to come out in the last year.